National Information Infrastructure
Introduction In September 1993, the Clinton Administration announced an initiative to promote the development of a National Information Infrastructure (NII): The guiding principles for creating the NII included: # promotion of private sector investment; # extension of universal service at affordable prices; # promotion of technological innovations and new applications; # promotion of interactive, user-driven operation of the NII; # ensuring information security and network reliability; # improving the management of the radio frequency spectrum; # protection of intellectual property; # coordination within government agencies and with other countries; and # providing access to government information and improving government procurement. Background The concept of a National Information Infrastructure originally focused on the development of a national computer network, the NREN, that the federal government played a key role in financing and developing. The idea of the information infrastructure broadened, however, as telephone and cable companies — driven by advances in fiber optics, digital signal processing, and data compression — began to promote their ability to provide a more diverse range of services using their networks. To make the most of the existing information and telecommunication infrastructure, and to bring the benefits of advanced telecommunications, information, and entertainment services to all U.S. consumers and businesses, government policymakers formally advanced the idea of the NII. In September 1993, the Clinton Administration released its The National Information Infrastructure: Agenda for Action.Id. That report established, in broad outline, goals for the development of telecommunications and information resources in the United States, and identified a concept of how the U.S. communications and information infrastructure should evolve. The purpose of the NII, as described by the Clinton Administration, was to enable all Americans to access the information they need; when they want it, where they want it — at an affordable price.See, e.g., comments of Mike Nelson, Office of Science and Technology Policy, at the Workshop on Advanced Digital Video in the National Information Infrastructure (Georgetown Univ., Washington, D.C., May 10-11, 1994). To serve this purpose, the Administration stated that many different technologies and systems would be used where appropriate.As explained in the Agenda for Action, the NII was really more than just an interconnected series of telecommunications or computer networks. It would encompass: l) a wide and ever-expanding range of equipment; 2) the information itself, which may be in the form of video programming, scientific or business databases, images, sound recordings, library archives, and other media; 3) applications and software that allow users to access, manipulate, organize and digest information; 4) the network standards and transmission codes that facilitate interconnection and interoperation between network; and 5) the people — largely in the private sector — who create the information, develop applications and services, construct facilities, and train others to tap its potential. Agenda for Action, at 5-6. In fact, most analysts thought of the NII not as a single system, but as a “system of systems” or “network of networks” that would carry voice, data, and video communications to homes, businesses, schools — to people wherever they were. To bring the NII into being, the Administration identified five overarching policy guidelines to serve as the framework for developing not only wireline NII services, but wireless systems and applications as well. :1. Competition was seen as the engine that would drive private sector investment in the NII, allowing companies to compete on fair and equal terms, while stimulating efficiency and innovation. Competition was also believed to lower costs for consumers, increase choices and diversity in information sources and entertainment, and protect quality and reliability. :2. A commitment to universal service sought to ensure that NII services would be available to all who want them, regardless of income, location, or ethnicity. This commitment had been the foundation of the telephone system for more than 90 years; as a result, almost everyone in the country was able to have a telephone. :3. Private investment would be the source of almost all funding for the NII; the government would not build or operate the systems that comprise the NII. Government agencies, however, would operate publicly accessible databases and their own telecommunications and information networks. :4. Open access meant the networks that carried the information and entertainment would be open to all users — distributors of programming as well as residential and business consumers. :5. Flexible government regulation was recognized as vital to promoting the goals outlined above. Regulations would seek to promote fair competition and private investment in rapidly changing technology and market conditions; and also protect consumers’ interests by ensuring low-cost services, high reliability, and personal privacy and security. Office of Technology Assessment Definition The Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) adopted a broad definition of the National Information Infrastructure: Military NII is the nationwide interconnection of communications networks, computers, databases, and consumer electronics that make vast amounts of information available to users. The national information infrastructure encompasses a wide range of equipment, including cameras, scanners, keyboards, facsimile machines, computers, switches, compact disks, video and audiotape, cable, wire, satellites, fiber-optic transmission lines, networks of all types, televisions, monitors, printers, and much more. The friendly and adversary personnel who make decisions and handle the transmitted information constitute a critical component of the national information infrastructure.Joint Chiefs of Staff, "Joint Doctrine for Information Operations" (Joint Pub. 3-13), at GL-7 and GL-8 (Oct. 9, 1998) (full-text). The NII is similar in nature and purpose to the GII but relates in scope only to a national information environment, which includes all government and civilian information infrastructures.Id. at I-14. References Source * Electronic Enterprises: Looking to the Future, at 7. See also * A Nation of Opportunity: Realizing the Promise of the Information Superhighway * Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure * An Architectural Framework for the National Information Infrastructure * Combined Information Infrastructure * Common Ground: Fundamental Principles for the National Information Infrastructure: First Report of the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council * Electronic Cash, Tokens and Payments in the National Information Infrastructure * Electronic Commerce in the NII * Framework for National Information Infrastructure Services * Global Information Infrastructure * Global Information Infrastructure - Global Information Society Report * The Information Infrastructure: Reaching Society's Goals * Information Infrastructure Task Force * The Information Superhighway and the National Information Infrastructure (NII) * Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure: The Report of the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights * More Than Screen Deep: Toward Every-Citizen Interfaces to the Nation's Information Infrastructure * The National Information Infrastructure: Agenda for Action * National Information Infrastructure: Industry and Government Roles * National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council * National Information Infrastructure Initiative * National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996 * National Information Infrastructure Task Force * NIST Special Publication 868 * Nomadicity in the NII * Overseas National Information Infrastructure Policies * Privacy and the National Information Infrastructure: Principles for Providing and Using Personal Information * Putting the Information Infrastructure to Work * Wireless Technologies and the National Information Infrastructure Category:Internet Category:1993